


The Rebel Persistence

by believesinponds



Series: Persistence [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: He's not, M/M, Star Wars References, len is canonically a nerd, len thinks he's the butt of a joke, no spoilers!!!, promise!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-13 02:07:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5690494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/believesinponds/pseuds/believesinponds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Len is sick of Barry's constant teasing and this is really the last straw.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Rebel Persistence

**Author's Note:**

> There will be no spoilers for The Force Awakens in this fic. Promise.

The joke was starting to get old.

When the kid returned from his stint in the future Len figured that he had somehow found out about his little...crush. He didn’t know how, but it was the only way he could explain the teasing. He had rolled his eyes the first couple times, brushed it off with his best approximation of good humor, but now it was just getting ridiculous.

At first Barry would slip it into conversation. They would be discussing their next big team up, figuring out logistics, and he would ask Len if he wanted to talk things out over lunch. Or they would run into each other at the grocery store and Barry would ask if he wanted to go bowling. Each time Barry would casually suggest a date and Len would raise an eyebrow and otherwise ignore it.

Perhaps ignoring it had been a poor choice on his part, because the kid just got bolder after a couple weeks. There had been a bouquet of ice blue flowers delivered to his bar, a bottle of his favorite whisky left on his doorstep, and even a box of chocolates in his locker at S.T.A.R. Labs after a particularly simple team-up. Each time Len had stashed the gift away and ignored the smug look on the kid’s face when he saw him next.

But really, this was just too much. The gifts and the teasing he could easily ignore, but now the damn speedster was actually following him to the movie theatre?

Ridiculous.

He marched up to the man himself, sitting with his foster sister and Ramon in the long line of fans, and said, “What the hell are you doing, Scarlet?”

The kid’s head shot up, his eyes wide--surprised at being caught, no doubt. “Cold! Uh, sorry, _Len_. Um, I’m in line for the movie?” A smile spread across his face and Len cursed himself for the way it made his chest flutter. “What are _you_ doing here?”

Len was suddenly grateful that he had left his robe and gloves with Lisa at the end of the line. His all-black garb could easily be mistaken for normal clothes as long as nobody looked too closely at his belt. “I’m hitting up the concession stand. These midnight premieres really bring in the dough.”

“Dude.” It was Ramon, peering at his hip with a grin. _Shit_. “Is that a lightsaber?”

Len’s hand automatically went to push the damn thing from their line of sight and he said, “No!” It was too late, though. The kid’s face was lighting up and it was causing that stir in Len’s chest again.

“You’re here for the premiere!” Barry said, his voice as excited as his face. He glanced down the line, looking for--yep, he was waving at Lisa now, gesturing for her to come up and join them. And that damn traitor sister was waving back, packing up their chairs and bags and heading toward them.

“What a lovely surprise!” Lisa dropped their things on the ground and glared at the family behind them, daring the little kid to accuse them of cutting in line. Len elbowed her in the side and she smiled a little too sweetly before turning her attention back to the group. “Hey, Cisco,” she said, her voice automatically turning flirtatious. “Lenny didn’t tell me we were meeting anyone.”

“We’re not--,” Len began, but he was interrupted by Iris saying, “Here, let’s rearrange these chairs a bit. I’m sure we can squeeze yours in!”

All four of them moved the chairs into a tight circle while Len stood back and huffed.

“Oh, quit being such a baby, Lenny. You know these things are always more fun with friends. And look! They brought games!”

He and Lisa had games, too. And snacks and blankets and everything you needed for a midnight showing. But she was right, these things were better with friends, and Len couldn’t even deny that they _were_ friends at this point, or friendly colleagues at the very least. So he sighed and took the remaining seat which was, unsurprisingly, right next to Barry.

“Red Vine?” The kid was holding out one of those giant tubs full of licorice, and Len rolled his eyes and grabbed a few. He heard Lisa snicker beside him and shot her a glare. They were his favorite candy, he wasn’t about to deny them when they were freely offered.

Barry seemed to be smirking and Len wondered if the kid somehow _knew_ that they were Len’s favorite. But, no, that was too absurd. It was just a coincidence.

* * *

Spending the hours in line with part of Team Flash was actually...not too horrible. Barry was being relatively normal. He hadn’t once teased Len about going on a date and had actually gotten into a pretty passionate defense of the prequels, which amused Len to no end. (He was no purist--he remembered seeing _Return of the Jedi_ in theaters when he was about ten years old, but he had been too young to have any sense of loyalty to the originals.) At one point Iris pulled out _Balderdash_ and they spent a solid hour coming up with silly definitions to strange-sounding words, each round getting more and more ridiculous.

They were somewhere in the middle of a round of _Uno_ when Len felt Barry’s knee pressed against his. It had clearly been an accident--the kid was just reaching forward to grab his card--but a warm tingling sensation was making its way through Len’s leg from the point of contact and suddenly it was very important that he maintain that connection. For the rest of the game Len hardly moved and somehow, miraculously, their knees remained touching.

The rest of the night passed by pretty quickly. They played more games, talked, even broke into song at one point (and Len would deny his involvement to his death bed, but it _had_ been pretty fun). Whenever he or Barry were forced to move (when Barry had to pee, when Lisa dragged Len to get more popcorn, when Cisco threw a plush Jar Jar Binks at Barry’s head) Len always ended up touching him again, his leg or foot or elbow finding Barry’s automatically.

Then before they knew it they were being let into the theater and once again Len ended up sitting next to Barry. He suspected that Lisa and Cisco (who had yelled at Len earlier for calling him “Ramon”) had somehow conspired to make it happen, but he wasn’t complaining. Things had actually been going well and Barry hadn't teased him once about his crush, so he was going to be a little selfish and take as much time with the man as possible.

***

Len _was_ paying attention to the movie. Really. But it was hard not to notice the many reactions of Barry Allen. The man’s eyes never left the screen. He was leaning forward in his seat, hands clasped and elbows on his knees, eyes wide and rapt with attention. When something big was revealed, he gasped. When someone was caught in a sticky situation, his hands went to his face and he bit his lip. When a character did something awesome (and yes, it really _was_ awesome), his whole body went rigid with excitement and then he let out a whoop with several others in the theater.

At one point, there was so much tension on the screen that Barry’s hand shot out to grip Len’s knee and he squeezed it tightly, muttering, “Oh no, oh no, oh no, no no no no no.” And then he gasped loudly, his hands flying back to his face, his mouth open wide in shock.

Len was resigned to losing the brief contact, so he was surprised when Barry’s hand went back to his knee and squeezed again. Len looked over to meet his eyes, which were still wide, and Barry silently mouthed, “Oh my god.” Len nodded, mouthed back, “I know,” and then turned his attention back to the screen with a half-smile.

Barry’s hand stayed on his leg for the rest of the movie.

***

They all stood and cheered when the movie ended, and Len noticed Barry wipe a few tears from his face. Len couldn’t look away. He was afraid that he might get caught staring, but then Cisco groaned loudly and said, “I’m starving. Big Belly Burger?”

Len blinked and turned his gaze to Cisco with a frown. “It’s 2:30 am.” Who the hell wanted a burger at 2:30 am?

“I could go for a burger,” Lisa said, and Len saw that she was holding Cisco’s hand.

“Me too!” Iris chimed in from the other side of Lisa.

Len sighed, ready to accept his fate, when Barry said, “Eh. I’m not really hungry.”

He almost missed the incredulous look on Cisco’s face before Lisa elbowed the poor guy in the gut.

Len raised an eyebrow.

“Why don’t you take Lenny home, Barry, and I’ll take these guys to get some food,” Lisa offered. Her grin was too wide and she ignored the glare that Len was sending her.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” Barry said. His grin was also wide, but Len knew that was just his nature.

“You don’t have to do that, Barry,” he said, narrowing his eyes at his sister. “I’m perfectly fine to--”

“What? Walk home?” Barry shook his head and laid a hand on his arm, pushing him out to the aisle and down the stairs. “Come on, Len, it’s fine. I know how hard it is for you middle-aged folk to be up so late.”

Len bristled and stood up straighter, his eyes narrowing. “I’ll have you know--” he began, but he was cut off by Barry’s laughter.

“Oh my god, would you _chill_? I was just teasing.” He pushed Len again, his hand still gently gripping Len’s arm.

Len moved, not wanting to block the steady flow of patrons exiting the theater. After a moment he tilted his head, the corner of his lip quirking. “Barry Allen. Did you just tell me to to _chill_?”

They were outside now, on the sidewalk in front of the theater, and Barry dropped his hand from Len’s arm with a quiet grunt. “I did _not_ do that on purpose.” He sounded almost indignant, like he couldn’t believe that Len was accusing him of such a thing, and it made Len laugh.

“So you’re making subconscious puns now?” Len threw his hand to his heart dramatically. “I’m so proud.”

“Oh my god, shut _up_ ,” Barry said, but he was laughing and shaking his head the rest of the way to the car.

As they drove in relative silence, Len found himself wanting to thank Barry for letting up on the teasing. It had actually been an enjoyable evening. He didn’t know how to say it without sounding silly, though, so he stayed quiet.

“Tonight was fun,” Barry said, glancing over at him with a smile. Apparently Barry’s thoughts had been on a similar track.

“It was,” Len agreed. He decided to go ahead and say it then. “It was a welcome change to go a whole day without you pestering me.”

If he hadn’t been watching Barry’s face he probably would have missed the small frown. It was gone in half a second, though, replaced by a smirk. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Len huffed. “Right. Like you don’t enjoy making fun of me every time we see each other.” He meant for it to come out lighthearted, like he was teasing, but his attempt fell short.

Barry was silent for a moment, his face looking genuinely confused, before he said, “What?”

“Come on, Red,” Len sighed and turned his attention to the window, crossing his arms without really noticing it. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. Asking me on dates and sending me gifts. I know you think it’s funny but it’s really getting old.”

“I--” Barry seemed to be struggling for words. Len caught his reflection in the dark window, but he couldn’t place the expression. The silence was too thick, too uncomfortable, and Len was about to tell him to forget it when Barry finally found his voice.

“You thought I was making fun of you?”

Len turned his head to face him again, his mouth thin and his eyebrow raised. “Making fun, teasing, whatever. It’s fine, the joke just isn’t funny anymore.”

They were pulling into Len’s driveway. Barry put the car in park and turned the engine off before he unbuckled and turned his whole body in his seat. “I wasn’t teasing you, Len.”

“Call it what you like, Barry.” His voice was frosty and he knew his expression was not a friendly one. “I was just trying to say that I appreciated a day without it.”

“No, Len, _listen_.” His face was serious, a little too intense, and Len didn’t know what to do with that. Barry moved his hand deliberately and placed it on Len’s knee, his eyes boring into Len’s. “I wasn’t joking. None of it was a joke.”

It was Len’s turn to be confused. He was clearly missing something because Barry made it sound like…

“What?” he said, because he didn’t know what else to say.

“Len. I honestly want to go out with you.”

He closed his mouth (when had that fallen open?) and swallowed. Barry’s hand was still on his knee, his eyes still holding Len’s gaze.

“You...want to go out with me.”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

Barry smiled. “ _Yes_ , Len. Really.”

“Why?” He felt himself blush a little and he shook his head. Shit, he hadn’t meant to say that. “I just mean--”

“I like you,” Barry said, squeezing his leg. “I want to get to know you. I think you’re a good person and I want to see more of you.”

Len was frozen. He was pretty sure his mouth was hanging open again but he didn’t have the ability to close it. This was...an unexpected development that he had not planned for.

“So,” Barry said, pulling his hand back and smiling. “Can I take you out for coffee this weekend?”

It was Barry’s smile that freed Len from his temporary inability to think or move. His shoulders relaxed and his mouth snapped shut, his lips slowly but surely moving to match that smile. Barry wasn’t teasing him. He actually wanted to go on a date.

Len’s smile grew a little wider and he tilted his head to the side.

“Yes.”

**Author's Note:**

> For the sake of this story let’s just pretend that The Force Awakens came out in mid-2016. And seriously, if you haven't seen it yet, GO SEE IT. Even if you're not into Star Wars. You don't have to be. It's *that* amazing.
> 
> Also, Len is totally canonically a Star Wars fan. See this post for confirmation: http://believesinponds.tumblr.com/post/136138460930/lotsource-x


End file.
